Contemporary artist Shepard Fairey got sued by the Associated Press for not meeting Fair Use standards when using their photo of Barack Obama as the inspiration for his infamous “Hope” poster. And now he’s fessing up: Fairey lied in court.

It’s old hat that Fairey’s been embattled in a court case over fair use, the idea that something like an image can be used in the context of news if it doesn’t sap value from the source’s original work. That source, in this case, being the wire news behemoth Associated Press, who are more or less trying to find away to put a price on information so blogs and the like can’t take “their” news and do stuff with it like talk about it. But for the time being, Fairey’s the guy the AP’s suing the pants off of because he’s a high profile figure who created a high profile piece of art from their high profile photgraph. And they want some of that young, idealistic money shelled out to Fairey, who’s made a grip from his posters. He’s probably lost quite a bit fighting this.

In a recent court deposition, Fairey identified one photo as the one he used as the inspiration for his poster, while the AP identified theirs-taken by wire photographer Mannie Garcia-as the one he used.

Well, he “realized” early on that it was Garcia’s photo that he had, in fact, used, and then deleted a bunch of shit on his computer to wipe clean evidence that he knew any better. Whoops. Time to confess!

In an attempt to conceal my mistake I submitted false images and deleted other images. I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment and I take full responsibility for my actions which were mine alone. I am taking every step to correct the information and I regret I did not come forward sooner. I am very sorry to have hurt and disappointed colleagues, friends, and family who have supported me in this difficult case and trying time in my life. I am also sorry because my actions may distract from what should be the real focus of my case – the right to fair use so that all artists can create freely. Regardless of which of the two images was used, the fair use issue should be the same.

Whoops. You can’t forget: Fairey’s also lawsuit happy to artists who ape or parody his stuff, so it’s hard to feel too bad for Fairey, even if he is trying to cover his legal costs and make a complex argument by being an asshole to someone els just like him. Birds of a feather. Also, Fairey lied to Bucky Turco at ANIMAL New York in an email, but Bucky doesn’t get his own apology from Fairey. Short end of the stick, these bloggers get. That’s HOPE for you.

Kanye West may be able to take time off to think about his life after all now that his concert tour has been canceled.

Concert promoter Live Nation said Thursday that West’s concert tour with Lady Gaga, titled “Fame Kills,” has been canceled just two weeks after it was announced.

The reason for the cancellation was not revealed. West told NBC’s Jay Leno last month, before the tour was officially announced, that he planned “to take some time off” in the aftermath of his MTV Awards show embarrassment.

The three-month, 34-show tour across the United States and Canada was to start next month. Tickets went on sale last week.

Live Nation said people who bought tickets could get refunds at the point of purchase. Tickets purchased online and on the phone will be refunded automatically, the promoter said.

West caused a ruckus at the MTV Awards last month when he put down his bottle of cognac, jumped on the MTV Music Video Awards stage and grabbed the microphone from singer Taylor Swift as she was giving an acceptance speech.

West, who apologized the next day on “The Jay Leno Show,” seemed to blame his erratic behavior on the lack of time he had to grieve his mother’s death two years ago.

“I deal with hurt and, you know, so many, you know, celebrities, they never take the time off, and I’ve never taken the time off to really, you know, I just, music after music and tour after tour on tour,” West told Leno.

Source: CNN

Get your dance on here

A new campaign from Coca-Cola’s energy brand Vitaminwater is crowdsourcing its next flavor rollout and offering a $5,000 prize.

Facebook members can download a shareable application that lets them vote for their choice among a handful of flavor proposals, specify the nutrient requirements they’d like in the new product, and give the new item its name, label and ad copy.

The development process begins with consumers downloading the applicationand voting for their favorites among a group of flavor proposals. The list of those proposals will be devised by the Vitaminwater folks after listening in to online conversations in places such as Google News, Twitter, Flickr and the foodie blog. The more a flavor is discussed in those communities, the more likely it is to make the list of the top 10 contenders that Web users will get to vote on. The list is scheduled to be thrown open for voting in the next two weeks.

Besides choosing the winning flavor, FlavorCreator app users will also be able to take a quiz that assesses their fitness levels. Those results will be used to help determine what vitamins and minerals the new drink should deliver and what health benefits it can convey.

Finally, a design contest launching from the Facebook app in October will ask app users to come up with a name, label design and package copy for the new flavor. The winning label will be selected in December by Vitaminwater celebrity spokespeople Carrie Underwood and rapper 50 Cent, and the entrant who supplied them will win $5,000.

The new Vitaminwater product is expected to be on store shelves by March 2010.

Vitaminwater, acquired when Coca-cola bought parent Glaceau in 2007, ran an extensive TV campaign during the March madness basketball finals to promote its Facebook page. Launched in February of this year, the page now has more than 400,000 fans.

Coca-cola is currently the subject of a class-action lawsuit by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which alleges that Vitaminwater’s product health claims are unsubstantiated.

Source: Promo Mag

The latest Bernie Madoff-inspired art wasdisplayed at a Beijing art gallery on Sunday.

“What You see Might Not Be Real,” by Chen Wenling depicts the Ponzi schemer as a devil, horns and all. The bull, which represents Wall Street, is farting because in Chinese “??” (fang pi) literally means to fart, but in slang means to bluff or lie.

Source: Huff Po